Coastal communities in the northeast splashed their way through floodwaters for a second day Sunday as a powerful nor’easter pummeled the shoreline.
Tens of millions of people across the northeast have since found themselves battling coastal flooding, power cuts, driving rain, travel chaos and cancelled stadium events.
AP reports tidal surges swamped low-lying neighborhoods in New Jersey while wind gusts toppled trees on New York’s Long Island, damaging homes and felling utility poles.
States of emergency have been declared in New York and New Jersey, both of which faced a coastal deluge in some areas.
Rain and strong winds were forecast from Virginia to Maine.
In Brooklyn, New York City, a man was killed by a falling tree.
People walk under a billboard featuring actress Sydney Sweeney in Times Square during a rain storm on September 27, 2026 in New York City. A powerful nor’easter has knocked out power to homes and businesses in the U.S. Northeast, grounding flights and prompting state leaders to declare emergencies. (Craig T Fruchtman/Getty Images)
“It’s not like a one-time occurrence,” said Caroline Virenius per the AP report, whose garage filled with about a foot of water (30 centimeters). “It’s getting wet again and again.”
The AP report set out some of the factors attributing to the problems beyond just utilities:
The slow-moving storm, which killed a New York City Housing Authority worker when a tree fell Saturday, was expected to linger through Sunday with heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf all the way to New England.
Extreme amounts of rain — more than 4 inches since Friday in some spots in New Jersey — combined with a surging ocean led to flooding amounts not seen for close to a decade in places used to dealing with high water, residents said.
The National Weather Service predicted the storm will gradually weaken however local heavy rain in parts of New England and the mid-Atlantic can still be expected.
Local officials in New Jersey and New York meanwhile cautioned residents that high tide late Monday could potentially bring more flooding.
A fallen tree sits in pieces after being cleared from Doone Avenue, Boston, on September 27, 2026. (Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty)
“There is another band of the storm, a weaker band, but still another band that could hit early this afternoon and later into the evening,” said New York’s Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
Well over 100,000 customers were without power across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic at times on Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. The most widespread outages were in counties along the coast from New Jersey to Connecticut.
Read the full AP report and associated forecast here
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